Vehicle-hub.



M. OCONNOR.

VEHiCLE HUB.

APPLICATION FILED MAR-1, I916. RENEWED MAR. s. 19!].

1,224,953. Patented May 8,1917.

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M. O'CONNOFL VEHICLE HUB. APPLICATION. FILED MAR. 1, I916- RENEWED MAR. 6. Ian.

1 ,224,953, Patented 8,1917.

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Application filed March 1, 1916, Serial No. 81,519. Renewed March 6, 1917. Serial No. 152,781.

To allcuhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MAURICE OCoNNoR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fort Adams, in the county of Newport and State of Rhode Island, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Vehicle-Hubs, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the ac companying drawings.

This invention relates particularly to wheels of the type most commonly used with automobiles, motor trucks, and the like heavy vehicles, and the immediate object of said invention is to provide a wheel of specially strong, and reasonably cheap, construction in which thereis provided a spring relieved sectional tire, with a protective dust cap for said tire; as well as novel means for assembling and clamping together the spokes and hub of the wheel.

The said invention is clearly illustrated in the annexed drawings, Figure 1 being a side elevation of a wheel embodying my present improvements.

Fig. 2 is a relatively enlarged, transverse, sectional, view of the wheel rim and tire, showing also the rim engaging portion of the spoke, taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a relatively enlarged, sectional, view of a portion of the hub and of one of the spoke supports seated in said hub, the said View being taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an inner face View of the rim section 31, and Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view of the same taken on the line 55.

Figs. 6 and 7 are, respectively, lower face, and edge, view of the protective plate 3 1.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged side elevation of the hub-engaging portion of one of the spoke fastenings, and Fig. 9 is a view of the hub illustrating particularly the manner of 1nter-locking the said spoke fastenings with the hub of the wheel. Fig. 10 is an edge view of the principal hub member and Fig. 11 is an edge view of a clamp-plate by means of which the spoke fastenings are prevented from leaving the said hub member.

Fig. 12 is a detached perspective view of a tubular case or housing for the rim-springs.

Briefly described, the said invention includes novel means for mounting the inner end portions of the spoke supports in the wheel hub, and in combination therewith means for connecting the tire, and its supporting rim with the spokes also in combi- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 8, 1917.

inclosed therein stifli special springs to provide a radial cushioning effect, and the wheel rim includes a plurality of sections that are cushioned and spaced apart by springs.

Referring to the annexed drawings, the numeral 20 indicates the wheel hub, the same being formed with a fixed flange 21 and with a removable flange 22 which latter is adapted to be clamped to the said fixed flange by bolts 23, one of said bolts being, by preference, located between each pair of spokes, in order to give stability to the assembled structure.

The fixed flange 21 has formed on its in ner face a series of projections 24 that are spaced apart from each other and from the hub proper 20, and are perhaps, best Seen in Fig. 9 of the drawings, the spaces thus provided between the said projections being adapted to receive the correspondingly shaped inner end portions 25 of hub-sup porting members 26 each of said members being formed with external screw-threads 27 upon which is screwed, or otherwise secured, a tube 28 upon which is slidably telescoped a relatively large tube 29; to the outer end of which larger tube'is secured a section of the improved rim which will be more specifically described later.

Within the described telescoping spoke is a stiff spiral springBO which acts with a constant tendency to force the connected rim section outward.

One of the said rim sections is illustrated in Figs. 2, 4:, 5 and 6 of the drawings, and it consists of three principal members, to wit, the rim section proper 31, a flanged plate 32 which is bolted to the outer face of the section 31 and is adapted to receive and support an endless, solid rubber, tire 33, as well as a dust cap or plate 34 which is secured to the inner face of the section 31.

The said rim section 31 is formed with a central opening 31 which is threaded interiorly to receive the exteriorly threaded outer end portion of the tubular spoke member 29 (see Fig. 2) the dust plate 34 being formed with a central opening 34 to permit the passage therethrough of the said spoke member, and the plate 34L is faced with a packing 34 of rubber which serves as a cushion between the said plate and section 31, to deaden the sound, to some extent, when the wheel is in service.

The rim section 31 is cut away, or recessed, as at 31 and 31 to receive the nuts 35 that are screwed upon the inner ends of bolts 36 which bolts serve to clamp the tiresupporting plate 32 to the rim section 31. Thebolts 36 are intentionally located so that the nuts 35 (When screwed home on the bolts) will project into under-cut recesses made in the walls between the central opening 31 and the recesses 3l31,and so that, after said nuts have been thus located and screwed home, and the spokes 29 have been screwed home in the rim section, the squared nuts will be locked against rotation (see Figs. 2 and 4).

The dust plate 3 is secured in place upon the inner face of the rim section 31 by means of bolts 37 and nuts38.

The opposite ends of the sections 31 are recessed, as at 31 to receive stiff spiral springs 39 which abutthe next confronting rim section, as will be understood by reference to the broken-away rim of Fig. 1; these springs 39 operating with a constant tendency to space apart the several rim sections and to provide a complete rim that is more or less flexible and thus relieves or rather prevents rigidity that would result from the use of a one-piece metal rim,

In order to protect the rim springs 39 from dust, etc., I have slipped onto each pair of springs a protective tubular case or housing 40 which is rectangular in transverse section and, by preference, I place in (10318850132 this'patent may be obtainedifor five cents each, by addressingtho Commissioner of Patents,

the said housing lubricating material, such as, for example, graphite.

The described" embodiment, in a single wheel of the several elementary features of novelty, provide a wheelof great strength, with desirable resiliency, and which may be produced at a reasonable cost.

I donot, in; this present application, claim broadly the features of supposed novelty regarding the rim construction of the described wheel, as I have this day filed a separate application with claims covering that feature;

What I do claim as new and wish to secure by Letters Patent: is

1. A vehicle-wheel including a flanged hub having thereon a plurality of spaced projections, a plurality of hub-supporting members, said projections and said hubsupporting. members being interlocked, and tubular spoke-members intermediate said huh-supporting members and the wheel-rim, said hub-supporting members having internal screw-threadedconnection with said tubular spoke-members.

2. A vehicle-wheel including a flanged huh-having'upon the inner surface of one of its. flanges; acir'cular arrangement of spaced projections, with opposite outwardly flared edges, a plurality of hub-supporting members having inner end flared and shouldered terminals interlockingwith said hub-flangeflared projections, and tubular spoke members intermediate said-i hub-supporting members and: the wheel-rim, said hub-supporting members having internal screw-threaded connectlon With said tubular spoke-members.

MAURICE. OCONNOR.

Washington, D. O. 

